Trapped in the corner in front of the George Mason bench less than three minutes into the game,
Jared Sullinger turned the ball over with his team already trailing by four points and about to go
down nine.

Sullinger and the Patriots' Ryan Pearson had a few words, to the extent an official came between
them and said, basically, knock it off.

As they walked into the lane in front of the George Mason basket before play resumed, Sullinger
nudged his ample midsection into Pearson's back and said, "It's over, yo."

Not right then. But very soon it was.

Momentarily fazed by a faster tempo than they had played at in months, Ohio State fell behind
11-2 today before unleashing all the many weapons at its disposal and burying the Patriots 98-66 in
an East Regional third-round game in Quicken Loans Arena.

David Lighty scored 25 points and tied his career high with seven three-point field goals in his
farewell performance in his hometown to lead the Buckeyes (34-2), the top seed in the region, to a
regional semifinal against No.4 seed Kentucky (26-8) on Friday in Newark, N.J.

"Every time I looked up, everybody was hitting a jumper or a three or something," Lighty
said.

William Buford and Sullinger scored 18 points apiece and Jon Diebler 13. Aaron Craft had a
school-record 15 assists, and the Buckeyes set or matched school records for an NCAA Tournament
game with 16 three-point field goals, 26 attempts, a .615 three-point percentage and 98 points
scored.

Lighty's seven threes in as many attempts was the second-best performance behind the arc in NCAA
Tournament history. Craft's 15 assists were the fourth-most in a tournament game.

"They don't have one or two players with good skills. They've got an entire team with offensive
skill sets that are very impressive," said George Mason coach Jim Larranaga, who was trying to lead
the No.8-seeded Patriots to their second upset of a No.1 seed in six seasons.

Cam Long scored 16 points to lead George Mason (27-7), which played without its third-leading
scorer, guard Luke Hancock, who had made the game-winning three against Villanova on Friday. He was
left at the team hotel after falling ill overnight.

Sullinger said the pace at the start of the game "did kind of throw us on our heels" after
months of enduring slowdown tactics by Big Ten opponents bent on keeping the ball out of the
Buckeyes' hands. Texas-San Antonio had used the same ploy in their second-round game against the
Buckeyes on Friday.

Momentum changed after Craft entered the game with 16:39 to play in the first half and Ohio
State trailing 11-2.

"I was contemplating taking a timeout, (but) I said I'm going to let us play our way out of
this," Ohio State coach Thad Matta said. "I had confidence that we were going to get rolling at
some point. I was hoping it was sooner than later.

"That's why I love bringing in Aaron. He gives us a spark. It's like a different dimension of
how we're playing at that point."

Craft assisted on Lighty's first three on the ensuing possession to start a 10-0 run, and the
Patriots helped matters by turning over the ball on three straight possessions.

Ohio State established a four-point advantage, 26-22, as the teams traded baskets over the next
eight minutes.

From there, the roof fell in on George Mason.

The Buckeyes finished the half on a 26-4 run that included five three-pointers in the last 4:50,
including a second-chance three by Diebler with a second left that sent them to the locker room
ahead 52-26.

The Patriots got their deficit to 21 points three times in the first six minutes of the second
half. But any thoughts of a miracle rally were dashed by a 12-0 run capped by Buford's back-to-back
threes with 11 minutes left.

"By far on our schedule, they're the toughest team we faced," Pearson said when the carnage was
over. "I think they're going to go real far in this tournament."